BM9400 - Business Analysis for Decision Making

The one-hour weekly lectures will provide you with a theoretical underpinning of the module content, supported by two-hour weekly IT workshops which will give you an opportunity to practice the various analytical techniques, allowing you to build up a proficiency in the use of the Excel spreadsheet and the necessary skills of interpretation and communication of findings.

There will be a number of additional exercises housed on the module’s e-learning portal that will permit you to undertake further practice independently. The module has a supporting reading list that provides you with an opportunity to see how the various decision making and analytical techniques are applied to further managerial and research-based problems.

Your directed study will support the work you have undertaken in the contact sessions. You will be expected to keep up-to-date with your workshop exercises. In addition, you will be set a selection of exercises to complete. To aid with self-assessment on progress, solutions to these exercises will be made available to you on the e-learning portal.
Independent learning time is set aside for learning activities, self-identified by you, to gain a deeper and broader knowledge of the subject. You may complete the review exercises, work with the electronic support tools (such as quizzes and recordings of IT applications), attempt to complete past examination papers or undertake further reading.
The problem solving nature of the workshops means that tutor (formative) feedback will be received continuously. Solutions to both workshops and directed learning activity alongside a number of quizzes on the e-learning portal to test module knowledge provide formative assessment.

Support will be provided to you by a member of academic staff leading the module and providing the lecture input. A team of academic staff are allocated IT workshop groups of about 20 students, which provides a closer, more personal academic support. These IT workshop groups are typically based on study programme cohorts, so you will be taught here alongside fellow members from your particular degree.

Your module is supported by an e-learning portal, which houses lecture materials, IT workshops exercises and data files, alongside assessment details and various support facilities such as recordings of certain lectures and IT applications, alongside other electronic support facilities such as indicated above.

You will be provided with a wide-ranging electronic reading list that comprises of various academic reports, conference papers and journal articles that showcase the application of various quantitative techniques presented in the module.

The module assessment consists of several inter-related tasks which will be distributed throughout your teaching semester. This will encourage your active participation in the learning process throughout the semester. The eLearning portal will be used to permanently host these tasks after release to ensure that you can access the information required at all times. Your work on these tasks will be the pre-work for a 2-hour open notes examination at the end of the module.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Understand a variety of introductory statistical techniques and their application to the analysis and interpretation of business data for a variety of organisational applications. (MLO1)
2. Understand and demonstrate the role of modelling as an aid to decision making; through the selection of models and techniques to assist in the solution of business problems. (MLO2)

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

Formative assessment will be provided on an ongoing basis throughout the module, where feedback will be provided during the practical workshop classes relating to the activities being undertaken, with further support being provided by the posting of outline solutions to these exercises on the e-learning portal. Further formative feedback will be supported by the use of posted recordings, particularly in the support of IT applications.

The module assessment consists of several inter-related tasks which will be distributed throughout your teaching semester. This will encourage your active participation in the learning process throughout the semester, thereby providing ongoing feedback on your understanding of the module content. The eLearning portal will be used to permanently host these tasks after release to ensure that you can access the information required at all times.

Your work on these tasks will provide you with further chance to practice the various areas of data analysis and modelling, as well as forming the pre-work for a 2-hour open notes examination at the end of the module.

This examination forms the summative assessment and representing 100% of the module mark will be based on a set of short answer questions covering all of the tasks completed and will be in an open notes format.

This will assess MLO1 and MLO2.

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It is expected that you will enter employment with an appropriate level of analytical understanding and proficiency in everyday business software such as the Excel spreadsheet. This module provides these essential business skills giving you a theoretical understanding of various statistical and modelling applications supported through practical IT exercises. You will work on a number of key techniques linked to which are IT practicals, supporting work for practice and specific items relating to your assessment. You will undertake various assessment tasks leading to a short answer examination which places emphasis on your findings and problem interpretation. These analytical, practical IT and interpretative skills are directly transferable to your working life, through part-time employment, placement or full-time graduate role. Your additional experiences within the module centre on support reading giving you additional awareness of the broad applicability of the module content across the wider business and management subject area.